Where I Belong
by Vixen279
Summary: This is my answer to a pivotal moment in Twelve Sharp. Steph does some real thinking. The rating is because of the dead body.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own JE's characters, I just like playing with them. Thanks for reading.**

I snapped out of my shock and took stock of my surroundings. My little apartment was playing host to guys from Rangeman, emergency personnel, police and several spectators. Julie was standing sentinel over Ranger as they worked on him and the guys from the coroner's office were dealing with Scrog.

Lula and I had always joked when we went after FTAs, "What Would Batman Do?" and I watched them wheel him away on a stretcher. Forget that, look what Batman just did. I knew that if that was me on that stretcher, he would be next to me, holding my hand even if I was not conscious. I moved forward and grabbed his hand, while at the same time shaking off Morelli who was trying to pull me away and calling me Cupcake.

Doesn't he know that I know he was not brave enough to come through that door? He is always willing to let Ranger do the rough things, the jobs that are in the grey area and I am starting to realize that it has nothing to do with the fact that he is a cop. It has to do with him using people. How long have I let him use me?

I looked back at him and glared. I hope he has ESP because if he pushes me, the same group of cops, EMS personnel and Rangemen will hear a declaration that I know he would rather is kept quiet. I take Julie's hand with my other hand and nod to the guys pushing the stretcher and we take the elevator to the ground floor.

We are not bothered on our journey to the waiting ambulance. I look back at the apartment building. Besides one or two good memories, I am about tired of living here. I looked down at the small hand clutching mine and squeeze it. Julie came through for both of us, but she killed a man and that has to be bothering her.

I take a deep breath and sit next to the stretcher in the ambulance. I could hear Morelli calling me Cupcake through the crowd and I sighed again.

Maybe I could pretend I don't hear him. No. Maybe I could change my name. If being Cupcake means dealing with his selfish attitude again, then I am changing my name to Babe. I could feel a squeeze on my hand. I look down and Ranger is looking at me.

"Did I say that out loud?" He squeezes my hand again and I smile and squeeze his hand back.

"Good." I watch him fall back to unconsciousness knowing I made the right choice. This is where I belong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own JE's characters, I just like playing with them. Thanks for reading.**

It was day three of Batman Watch and I was comfortable in my armchair right next to the bed of the man himself. I have a laptop, an overnight bag and a bed on the side of his that the guys commandeered when I told them that I was not leaving. Lester and Cal are on the door right now and later they switch with Hal and Zero. Tank is running Rangeman and is talking to the other managers about rotating workers.

I gave him the idea. I said they would need extra guys and that maybe some of the guys here would like to switch places. Of course we can blame the Showdown in the waiting room for that decision. The guys want to leave so they do not shoot Morelli. I cannot believe he acted like that, then again, yes I can.

I look over at Ranger. He is sleeping and he has not woke up yet from his surgery, but Bobby translated the medical speak for me. Apparently that is normal. Whatever. I am not leaving.

My mother could not make me leave when she had asked me to talk with her in the waiting room. I had left her there with a serious case of the why mes. Oh well. You can't please everybody. I am so glad I finally understand that. I feel no guilt whatsoever for not doing what my mother wants.

The night Ranger was brought here, I sat in the waiting room with Julie and I called Ella. I told her the deal and begged for clothes for me and Julie and food. She said she would be happy to help. Manny arrived with my stuff and I asked if he and Zip would pack up my clothes for me and give Dillon a note for me. They hugged me and agreed.

They told me that Ella was cooking some easy to reheat meals for when Ranger came home. I had loved her faith that he would be alright. I conned the nurses into letting me and Julie shower and change. I threw out our old clothes and we returned to the waiting room, which had grown more people.

I met Ranger's mother who hugged Julie until she protested and sat on my lap again. We talked about superheroes and cartoons until she fell asleep. When I needed the restroom and left her with Tank, I came back to find her hysterical. I hugged her and told her I was in the bathroom. We now take those breaks together.

There were so many men in black in the waiting room that I wondered who was on monitors. Tank said he called in contract workers and that he left Hal and Hector in charge. I just smiled and nodded. We waited for hours until Morelli showed up just as the doctors called my name. I stood up and took Julie with me.

I was informed that I had Ranger's medical proxy and that there were papers I needed to sign and they wanted to talk about his surgery. Joe had thrown a fit, yelling that there was no way his girlfriend was having anything to do with that thug. The same thug that took bullets for me, but whatever.

I looked at him and told him his girlfriend was not here and that maybe he should take a hike and find her. I told him he was an inconsiderate asshole to call a decorated soldier a thug and especially to insult that same brave man in front of his child and his mother.

He grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away from Julie and every guy in the room pulled their guns on him. I looked at his hand on my arm and he let it go.

I told him that if he did not leave quietly, I would have him removed. He tried to bluster about being a cop and I told him that he was not assigned to the case and that I had no comments until I spoke with my attorney. Tank had nodded at me when I said that. Good.

He yelled that I was a disgrace and that the next time Ranger and his goons were going to get me killed. I smiled and said that at least he would be safe, since he could just hide somewhere until Ranger and his guys made sure things were safe again, right?

I turned my back on him and followed the doctor with Tank and Julie accompanying me. I found out that Ranger had pulled through the surgery and that he was in a medically induced coma while his body healed. So I talked to Tank and he talked to the guys and now here I am playing scrabble on a laptop that Hector sent me. I also did some searches to combat the boredom.

Julie was asleep. Her mother had arrived and had seen the way she was clinging to me and agreed that Julie could stay here during the days, but at night she was to go to her grandmother's house. That did not work too well. Julie had nightmares and she was brought back here to sleep with me. We both fell asleep to the sounds of the machines in Ranger's room.

There was a cough and I looked up to see Ranger looking at me. He had a chest tube in, so he could not talk. I smiled at him. "Are you ready to be Batman again instead of Sleeping Beauty?" His eyes smiled at me.

I pushed the button for the nurse and woke Julie up. She was excited and now she believed that he would not die. The doctors did their measuring and all while I sat with Julie on my lap. They tried to make us leave and the machines went berserk. Batman wanted us to stay, it seemed.

The doctors finally left and I helped Ranger to drink some water from a cup. He continued to smile at me with his eyes. I wonder what he is thinking about. The guys came in to see him and to give us our daily supply of Ella food. Julie kisses her dad and told him she loved him before she left. She said she would not have a nightmare tonight because she knows he is alive. I told her to call me. We were alone again and I held Ranger's hand.

"So I did not dream it." I look at him. What?

"What are you talking about?" He squeezes my hand.

I squeeze his in return. He takes a slow breath. "You came with me. You were here the whole time." I smiled at him.

"Of course, Batman. This is where I belong. Now you work on getting better. Maybe think about getting a force field or something." He smiles.

I give in to temptation and kiss him gently. "Go back to sleep. I am not going anywhere." He smiles a tiny smile at me then and goes right to sleep. I stare at him, and then I get back to work on the searches. I still had nightmares and I needed to make myself sleepy. Tomorrow is another day and I look forward to it even more now. Batman was going to be alright.

A/N: Please read and review. Does it feel finished now?


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own JE's characters, I just like playing with them. Thanks for reading.**

 **Stephanie POV**

"Batman, I am telling you, you need to stay in that bed until the doctor's release you. If you call and threaten to fire one more guy, I will smack you. They are not allowed to do an op to bust you out of here. Obey the doctor's orders or else!"

He growls at me. He is sexy even in his pajamas. Ella said she would not have her nephew in a hospital gown. I had asserted myself and now I was the one to give his Royal Grouchiness his sponge baths every day. It was quite the hardship let me tell you.

He looks at me in challenge. "Or else, what, Stephanie?" Oh, I love how he says my name.

I get up and put the laptop I am using down and walk over to him. I put my arms on the sides of his face and lean in close, so close it must seem like I am about to fuse our mouths together in a sweet kiss that would definitely end our little argument.

"Or else, I will leave you here with my grandmother. She really wants Batman duty. You know how you say the guys love Bombshell duty?" He flops back onto the bed.

"You bitch!" He pouts. Damn he is so fucking sexy. I take pity on him and kiss him anyway, but without the added lust that I feel welling up in me. I am sure that the Tasty Pastry is making a killing on me this week.

"I am yours, Carlos, by whatever name you want to call me. Now stop pouting. Do you want to play xbox with me or I could read to you? Maybe you can tell me about the Batcave or we can do a puzzle or play cards?" He grabs my hand and kisses my wrist and sucks on the skin there. Wow. Who knew that was an erogenous zone? I stop babbling.

"Are you sure that you are ready for that, Babe?" What? I check the door. I am sure that I can make it around a couple of bases before the guys came back or the doctors invaded us again.

"Sure thing, Batman. Work with me here." I start to climb onto the bed and he chuckles.

"Babe, focus. I mean are you ready for the Batcave. I told you it is forever."

He stares into my eyes and kisses my hand again. He needs to stop doing that. I am only a woman and I will fucking devour him. I drag my eyes over his body. Mmmm. He probably tastes delicious. My shoulder angel tells me to behave, but my shoulder devil pimp slaps her and tells me that I know damned well that he does taste delicious. Oh, right. Hell yes, Batman.

I lean forward and kiss him again with my hands in his hair. We break the kiss and see that we have an audience. I count four nurses, two Rangemen, and two doctors. What am I doing? I am almost on top of the poor guy. Sheesh!

He was shot and I act like he is begging for sexual attention. These people look at me like I am some scarlet woman, but they don't know what it is like being near him and not being able to touch him all this time and then he wakes up and gives me those looks and flirts with me and kisses my hand and have they met him? I inch back into a sitting position.

"False alarm, folks. Bombshell was just trying to do first aid with Ranger. No harm, no foul. Nothing to see here."

I love Bobby so much. He is my favorite Merry Man. He looks at me and winks and Ranger growls at him. Ranger needs to chill out. He had been bugging me to wear a nurse outfit because it would cheer him up. I look at him and gesture to the nurses and mouth the word later to him and he licks his lips at me. He is so horrible! The posse leaves and Bobby and Hal go back outside the room. I sigh. I cannot believe he gets me so hot!

"Babe, will you really wear a nurse uniform for me?" He sound so hopeful. I do have an outfit that Lula claimed was a nurse uniform, but Lula bought it so you can understand my skepticism. I would have to take one for the team. I turned to Ranger.

"Yes, you big baby. I will wear the nurse uniform." He beams a smile at me and Bobby opens the door again.

"Really, guys? Keep him calm, Steph or I will ban you from the room." I give him a rude hand gesture and kiss Carlos again. Gently. I don't want Bobby to get all huffy.

"Babe, what about the Batcave?" I take his hand.

"Do you have a guy named Alfred? Is there really an underground tunnel?" He chuckles at me.

"No, Querida, but it is my home and taking you there will require a commitment from you. Are you ready for that?" I smile at him.

"You cannot scare me away, Batman. I want everything with you. Yes, I am ready. Now behave and eat your dinner. Do you want me to feed you?"

He cuts his eyes at me and pulls the tray towards him. I notice him wince and I grabbed the duffle bag and headed for the door. I tell Bobby that no one gets in for the next hour and he says that he will call my phone in an hour. I race to the bathroom to change and wow. Lula got me an old fashioned nurse costume that is mega short and lowcut. I step out of the bathroom and Carlos gasps.

"You do love me, Babe." I giggle and sit next to him and feed him his dinner. He kisses my hand after each bite and I can feel it everywhere. This man is so handsome and deadly and adorable and brave. I love him.

"I love you, too, Stephanie. Thank you for putting up with me." Silly Batman.

"Hey, you are putting up with me, too and I am yours now. You are not getting rid of me just by being grouchy, so you may as well get used to it and behave yourself." He smiles at me.

"You were great with Julie earlier, Babe." I like Julie.

"She is a cool kid, Ranger. She is only 9 years old and she is already badass. She is definitely your kid. I am also glad that her mom is willing to let her visit you this summer. Isn't that great?" He smiled at me.

"That is because of you, Babe." Nope. It is because Julie said that she wanted to see her daddy. She had the glare down and Rachel was helpless to say no to her. We exchanged phone numbers and hugged and Julie promised to be safe and to stay with her guards.

"She is great and you should be able to spend time with her, Ranger. Family is not a weakness. Love is not a weakness." He got serious and held my hand.

"Stephanie, I know that and what I used to tell you about relationships is all in the past. I am ready for us, Babe if you are." I smiled and kissed him again. I put the tray on a side table and danced over to him and straddled his thighs.

"Oh, Babe. You will have to save this outfit for when I am cleared by the doctors. I will show you just how much I love the way it fits you." I kiss him and he kisses and bites my neck. Oh, Batman! My phone rings and snaps me back to reality.

"Yo, Bob." He laughs and tells me that I have five minutes until the doctors will be back and I thank him.

"I will be right back, Ranger."

He continues to stare at me. "I like it when you call me Carlos, Babe." I grin.

"Can I call you Ricky?" He glares at me.

"No." I giggle and escape into the bathroom to change my clothes. This was really going to be good.


End file.
